Head Stop
Head Start is testing small children. Today's New York Timtes notes:
- More than half a million 4-year-olds in Head Start programs around the country are taking the same test, which has been mandated by the Bush administration. The largest standardized testing of such young children ever in this country, it has exposed a bitter divide between federal officials and many experts in early education.
The test reflects the philosophy and principles behind the No Child Left Behind law, which emphasizes literacy and math, and has imposed testing for children starting in the third grade as a key to raising academic achievement.
But critics say the test is flawed and meaningless for such young children, whose development is in enormous flux.
We don't need no education.
We don't need no thought control.
No dark sarcasm in the classroom.
Teacher, leave those kids alone.
Hey, Teacher, leave those kids alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall.
All in all you're just another brick in the wall.
Posted by Jay Cross at October 29, 2003 09:08 PM | TrackBack
I've often felt that the reason for the increasing attention being placed on standardized testing is the underlying awareness (fear) that the curriculum (control) doesn't work very well. People in authority fear losing control. What is being standardized are the people forced to take these tests. Standardized tests are nothing more than power tools for the data wardens who use them to sort and classify people.
A standardized test has very little to do with learning and a lot more to do with the desire for control.
Posted by: Brian Alger at October 31, 2003 12:09 PM
